E 642 
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Copy 1 



Ebbtess 




ffiie Xutbcr 1R. flDavsb, 
ni>(&5letown, m. !?. 



1899 



^OMMAJVDER Wheeler, and Comrades of the 
^^"^^ General Lyon Post ; of the Jackson Post ; 
W and of the Union Veterans' Union, Capt. 
Fuller's Command: 
I have always felt like congratulating yoii of tlie Gen. 
Lyon Post on the name you have adopted for your organi- 
zation within the Grand Army of the Republic. General 
Nathaniel Lyon was one of the grandest and most self- 
sacrificing heroes of our late Civil War. He had his 
origin in old Connecticut, that mother of jurists, statesmen, 
and warriors. Thoroughly trained in that National Mili- 
tary School which is embraced in our own County of 
Orange, he was well equipped for service in the field. In 
the Seminole War he became familar with the Everglades; 
as treacherous as the tribes that inhabited them. At Con- 
treras and Cherubusco he earned the brevet of Captain. He 
was wounded at Belen Gate in the assault on the City of 
Mexico. Afterwards, in conducting an expedition against 
the Indians of Northern California he won unstinted 
praise for his skill, his celerity of movement, his secret 
marches. Subsequently, returning East, his hide-bound 
politics gave way before the debates he listened to in Con- 
gress, and his original humanity swam to the top. On the 
frontiers of Dakotah he encountered perils and bereavement. 



From tlie commencement of the Great Eebellion, he stood, 
a pillar of the Union. No one more diligent or earnest in 
countervailing the schemes of the secessionists. In a des- 
perate rally against the outnumbering forces of Sterling 
Price, at Wilson's Creek, his horse was shot under him ; 
himself twice wounded, yet, amid the thunder of the battle, 
he changed his headquarters to the back of another steed, 
and dashing to the very front of his wavering line, — there, 
alas, a shot tore through his breast and his career was 
ended. He made his Country his legatee, and, by some 
thirty thousand dollars, enriched her treasury. A 
nobler consecration of time, service, property, and life, 
has no record. Well may you honor and perpetuate the 
name. 

The Jackson Post,-— named after that typical soldier of 
our city, William A. Jackson, — and the Union Veteran's 
Union — Commander Fuller, — kindred associations — join 
you in your homage to-day ; and with you will visit their 
sacred grounds. 

Soldiers ; your names, youi organizations, your equip- 
ment, your titles, and your record, prove, that, when 
summoned, you were prompt to meet the emergencies of 
war ; to stand, when need was, before the death-dealing 
tubes of those who sought to divide the Union ; to put your- 
selves on the hazard ; to run all risks for the integrity and 
honor of the nation ; to disregard the whistling missiles of 
death whenever the national symbol — our flag of stars — 
North or South, East or West, — a flag unacquainted with 
defeat — seemed to be in peril. 



But, now, 3^ou are in a community of peace. All is 
quiet, as if you were in Paradise. 

" War thoughts 
Have left their places vacant." 

You come up here from your liomes of serenity and peace. 

The drum and the trumpet, at whose signal, you fall into 

ranks, and marslial yourselves in array, do not, as once, 

summon you to actual combat. Your bayonets are not 

fixed. At the close of the day they will show no reddened 

points. No blood, hostile or friendly, will enrich the soil of 

Middletown. No unburied corse of gallant rider, champing 

steed, or stalwart footman, will lie on the field to-night. No 

weeping orphans, no freshly widowed wives, need mourn 

their losses to-morrow. War, to you, is a memory only. 

" Now is the winter of our discontent 

Made glorious summer," assisted by these sons of York, 

' And all the clouds that lowered upon our " Country 

" In the deep bosom of the ocean buried." 

We are at peace all around the globe. The sea-sur- 
rounded uprisals in the Caribbean, give us no trouble. New 
isles of beauty and fertility have come under our flag, or 
established friendly relations with us. 

We hold the gates of the mid-Pacific, and many island- 
jewels sparkle in our hand. 

We extend our beneficence over the far-off Philippines, 
soon, I trust, to be re-christened the "Dewe}' Archipelago." 
Prouder will they be, in future times, to bear the name of 
the great Naval Hero of the age, than of the bloody Spanish 
tyrant of the Sixteenth Century, Philip the Second. The 
World's Atlases would gladly adopt the change. 



This occasiou is merely to recall, and pass in review, 
the brave deeds of the past ; to send thoughts of love and 
admiration to those who fell amid the shock of arms, or 
who, wearied with the long march, the comfortless bivouac, 
or the depletion of wounds, have since lain down by the 
way. 

Since I addressed you at a similar assemblage, in 1892, 
I note a diminution in your numbers. There are gaps in your 
columns : not as the immediate result of rebel bullets, but 
by the scythe of Time. Every year there are fewer and 
fewer answers at Reveille, and fewer, yet few^er, responses at 
Tattoo. Within the jesiY, Cornelius Crans, of the Jackson 
Post, — jo^i^f^^b' wounded in the battle of the Wilderness, — 
whose life, since, was a romance, — has parted company ; 
within a month or so, Alanson Stevens, has received the 
burial services of our Order; and the mourning fusillade 
over the grave of John B. Leemon is yet in our ears. 

In your name I welcome the invisible hosts of your 
companions who have gone from us. They have gone, but 
they have come. They return to meet you, and to receive 
your greetings. They are here, though obscured by the 
films of our material eyes, and are mindful of what you do, 
and of what you say, and of what you feel. They behold 
your testimonies of love and memory. Let us greet them 
with a full but silent salute. 

In token of our love, we carpet the Necropolis wdth 
flowers. What mode so lovely in which to testify our re- 
gard for the memory of our friends as to shower their graves 
with the sweetest offerings of Nature ! The noisy demon- 



stratious that welcome tlie " Sabbatli Day of Freedom," 
would seem out of place. Let not the air be disturbed bv 
tlie clamor of guus ! Let no loud artillery echo over the 
plains, nor reverberate along the hills ! Let the welkin 
of peace overarch us, indicative of the peace that 
reigns with them. Call them not down to list the turbu- 
lence and resounding roar which would manifest our 
exuberance on this physical plane. 

Softly fall, on the turfs of our heroes, the tinted and 
fragrant emblems of the resurrection ! Upwards floats the 
incense of nature, of honor, of love ! Let no badge of 
mourning darken the scene ! Let black be exiled. We re- 
joice ; we do not mourn. We claim kindred with those who 
have gone before. No voice of sorrow pierces our ears. It 
is a jubilee. The ties that have been snapped are reunited : 
the wounds received are cicatrized, the deeds of heroism are 
recorded. The harvest of triumph is being reaped. The 
fruition of their labors and perils is the enjoyment of peace, 
prosperity, and freedom, by the whole people. 

My thought was well expressed by Henry Ward 
Beecher, who said : " When I am dead, strew flowers upon 
my grave ; but let no heathenish practice prevail at my 
funeral, — of putting on black drapery and the livery of sor- 
row for a soul which has passed through the shadow of 
death into eternal life." 

Therefore, let the Roses of Sharon, and the Lillies of 
the Valley, attend our ceremony. Come forth from field 
and garden and conservatory, all flowers of roseate tint ; the 
hyacinths and the fuschias, the geraniums and crysanthe- 



inums,tlie oleanders and azaleas, and lay your beauties on the 
tombs ! Speak to us as you send up your spiritual es- 
sences to greet the spirits who have come down to meet 
you. Adorn our sepulchres with a magnificence that Tyrian 
rivalry could not imitate ; and a glory beyond the reach of 
Judah's King. 

In a recent utterance, the great preacher, Talmage, ex- 
claimed : "The flowers are the angels of the grass. When 
the clouds speak, they thunder ; when the whirlwinds sj^eak, 
they scream ; when the cataracts speak, they roar ; but 
when the flowers speak, they always whisper." 

It is not alone in Middletown that this memorial is 
tendered. Everywhere, over the land, the ceremony is re- 
peated. In villages unnumbered the citizens gather, as here. 
It is a universal testimonial. Everywhere the same reveren- 
tial enthusiasm prevails. The Stars and Stripes look down 
upon it all, and take on a brighter hue, and a fuller swing. 
Martial melody harmonizes the scene. All business sleeps. 
No chain dangles or clanks in all the land. No foot of 
slave prints the ground. " There's freedom on the old plan- 
tations." From Lakes to Gulf, from Sea to Sea, old Glory 
floats unquestioned. An emancipated people cover the con- 
tinent. To have participated in such an achievement, it 
was worth while to die. To die, did I say ; rather to rise 
to higher life, and take a broader view of the continental 
consummation. 

And so, the soldiers of that day, on whichever side of 
the great line they lived, whatever the color of their 
uniform, — or blue or gray, — illustrating, alike, American 



valor, are embraced in the great American lieart. How ex- 
quisitely Judge Francis M. Fincli, — our "Prince of 
Itliaca," — embodies the sentiment : — 

" From the silence of sorrowful hours, 

The desolate mourners go, 
Lovingly laden with flowers, 
Alike for the friend and foe ; — 
Under the sod and the dew, 
Waiting the judgment day ; 
Under the roses the Blue ; 
Under the lillies the Gray. 



No more shall the war cry sever, 
Or the winding rivers be red ; 
They banish our anger forever 
When they laurel the graves of our dead ! 
Under the sod and the dew, 
Waiting the judgment day, — 
lyove and tears for the Blue ; 
Tears and Love for the Gray. 

So have the words of Wendell Phillips, which con- 
cluded his great speech of April 21, 1861, found justifica- 
tion. He said : — 

" The result is as sure as the Throne of God. I believe 
in the possibility of justice,in the certainty of Union. Years 
hence, when the smoke of the conflict clears away, the world 
will see under our banner all tongues, all creeds, all races, — 
one brotherhood ; and on the banks of the Potomac, the 
Genius of Liberty, robed in light, four and thirty stars for 
her diadem, broken chains under her feet, and an olive 
branch in her right hand." 



That time lias already come. The thirty-four stars 
have grown to forty-five ; the oneness of the country is as- 
sured. " E. Plurihus Unuvi " is no longer a mere sentiment ; 
it is a griind reality. Before, there were alw^ays threats of 
breaking oii' pieces of the Union on this side or that. A 
little dissatisfaction was followed by menanpes of severance. 

This threat was held over the heads of Congress and 
of the legislators of the Northern States. Men, if they hap- 
pened to be in any Southern State, dared not repeat the 
very words of Washington, Jefferson, and Patrick Henry. 
The question had to be settled ; and it was settled, and 
settled forever. There w^as no Appellate Court above the 
Tribunal that adjudged it. Your own voices w^ere potent in 
the decision. You, Comrades, were Associate Judges on 
the Bench of that High Tribunal of the People, — that ul- 
timate Court of last resort, — that pronounced the final 
decree. 

And so, all parts of the Country came together in a 
union most complete and indivisible. It was not a mere 
unition of several parts by a sort of political Portland ce- 
ment ; but a thorough interblending, a composite, homoge- 
neous in character, and incapable of separation. The Nation 
became, and is. One ; one in patriotism, one in prosperity, 
one in destiny, one forever. 

The value of this comj^lete unition was demonstrated in 
our recent conflict wdth Spain. No sooner was the tocsin 
of war sounded, than it was responded to through our most 
distant borders. Texas and Maine, New York and Minne- 
sota, the old States of the East, and the New States of the 



West, strove to see wliicli would first reach the front. Kan- 
sas heard it, and sent one of her cyclones, personified in 

Funston. As, in our Civil War, — in which you partook 

Kilpatrick, of New Jersey, leaped to the saddle from his 
school at West Point ; and Miles, of Massachusetts, sprang 
from the counter to the stirrups, and Grant, of Galena, left 
his tannery to rise to the Supreme Command, so, now, the 
lads of the North and the South, of the East and the West, 
hastened at their country's call ; — displaying equal skill, 
courage, and capacity, for service or command, whether 
their peaceful homes were on the Atlantic coast, along the 
Pacific wave, or on the mountains, hills, and valleys that lie 
between. The graceful Equestrian from the smooth paths 
of Central Park, rode side by side with the Kough Rider of 
the mustangs of the prairies, up the slopes of San Juan ; 
while our citizen,— now our Governor, - -uniting in himself 
the disciplines of the metropolis and of the frontier, was 
ever in the lead. 

There has been no degeneracy in American temper, skill, 
or valor, since your day of martial activity. Think of it. 
The call to arms, from peaceful occupations, was sudden 
and unexpected. The explosion of a mine, under the hull 
of our good Ship, Maine, while she rocked in Cuban waters, 
stirred the depths of the ocean ; and resounded over the 
land. It found us without troops, without an adequate 
navy, without artillery, without ammunition, without any 
preparation ; but with an abundance of determination and 
an abundance of men. There was military inexperience in 
the heads of government. We had only black-smoking 



.'ind tell-tale powder. And worst of all, "and most to be 
deplored", we had men amongst us wdio were willing to 
fill tlieir pockets at the expense of the health and strength 
of our soldiers. 

Oliver Cromwell used to say, when he had beaten his 
enemies, that "their stomachs came down." The stomach 
has always played an important part in war. There has, 
indeed, been some fierce fighting done on empty stomachs, — 
as in the case of Gen. Stark, at Bennington ; and Marion 
and his men got strength enough for their brilliant 
exploits from sweet potatoes. But that our troops 
in Cuba accomplished such results, with their innu- 
tritions and nauseous food, — triumphing over the sickness 
of camp, the weakness of hunger, and the valor of their 
foes, — proves the invincibility of American arms. Rations, 
repugnant to the taste, disgusting to the stomach, unfit for 
men, were thrown to the ground, to sicken Cuban vultures. 
There is no condemnation too severe for the authors of it. 
Let their names and infamy ever be united. But what ad- 
miration for our soldiers, who, depleted by the malaria of 
camp, and by distasteful, nerveless food, struggling on a 
foreign and unexplored land, and opposed by a brave and 
war-like enemy, yet pushed on 

" Through bog, through bush, through brake, through 
briar," 
through chapparal and jungle, through cactus-thorns 
and wire-woven barricades, over hills and fortifications, — 
pushed on, I say, with the certainty of fate, to the jubila- 
tions of victory ! 



Our naTY leaped sucldenly into life, extemporized its 
artillery, and munitions of war, and rode tlie yeasty wave 
as Master of the Sea. Whole armored fleets, rejoicing in 
complete equipment, and with traditions of success, went 
down before it, as the silence of distant lands and waters 
was broken by the triumphant voices of our guns. 

New names came forth, in Navy and Army,— some 
from the unknow^n, and some to added fame,— and the 
names of Dew^ey and Schley, of Miles and Wheeler, of Hol> 
son and Funston, of Otis and Mac Arthur, and many, 
many, many another, have risen to their conspicuous and 
permanent place in American liistory. If I had my way, I 
would not omit the names of Capt. Joseph B. Cogldan and 
Rear Admiral Ivautz. 

And when the Government called for troops to cross the 
broad expanse of the continent, and then encounter two 
thousand miles of sea, that they might hold, for a season, 
the Sandwich group, there came forth, in our county of Or- 
ange, from the occupations of peace, — the farm, the shop, 
the store, — extemporized soldiers to meet the emergency; 
one of whom, a gallant youth, — Alfred C. Weller, — has left 
to his parents, and to his city, only an honored memory. 

The truth is, that such has been the admixture of races, 
bringing out the best qualities of each ; such the combina- 
tion of circumstances and opportunity ; such the advantages 
of education ; that this land, from bound to bound, through 
all its peaceful avocations, is full of raw material, however 
undeveloped, which requires onh' the occasion, to be im- 
mediately converted into men of heroic mould ; men who 



rise to all emergeucies ; liaviug tlie prescience to foresee the 
necessity ; having the skill to adapt themselves to the cir- 
ciinistaiices ; having the courage to do what their ingenuity 
invents : and who dare to tell the truth. The Mexican wai", 
the Civil war, the Spanish war, are, each of them, full of 
illustrations. 

The proud and ancient Kingdom of Castile and Ara- 
gon ; whose war experiences date from Eomau times ; a 
war-like race from the beginning ; the bloodiest, the cmelest 
of all the nations ; defending herself against Eome ; against 
the Turks ; against the Saracens ; against the Arabs ; against 
the English ; against the French ;— always at war ; sending 
her adventurous navigators in quest of new domains ; send- 
ing Cortes to Mexico and Pizar j to Peni ; this fierce and 
fighting nation, as soon as she came in collision with the 
United States, soon found her prestige gone, her power 
broken, her navy sunk, her territories captured ; and the 
coarse terms of derision with which she began the war con- 
verted into strains of humiliation ; all this in a hundred 
and thirteen days. Not one of our guns turned its muzzle 
upon us ; and not one of our pennons changed its custody. 
History records no parallel. Her Latin National Sympa- 
thizers suddenly awoke to the supremacy of the Saxon. 
Spain has made two great discoveries ; one by her Genoese 
Columbus, of the New World ; and, again, some four hun- 
dred years thereafter, that that New World could not be 
safely insulted. 

Not wholly without recompense are the horrors of war. 
It is the prerogative of Providence to overrule all evil for good. 



And so we must often have observed how, when the tumult 
of combat has subsided, the banners fohded, the great guns 
limbered and retired, the swords hung on the w^all, the angrj' 
passions of contending hosts subdued, and peace resumed, 
that new activities start into life, the world moves onw^ard 
with fresh vigor, new combinations occur, and more welcome 
are the amenities of life. It would almost seem as if these 
national antagonisms, these contending hosts, w^ere not out- 
side the plans formed Above. This possibility got hold of 
our friend, already quoted, Judge Finch, wdien he sang : 

With shock of war the Ay;es move ; 

With blow of hate is moulded Love ; 

And out of anvils' pound and ring 

The iron frames of Progress spring. 

In every clash of struggling thought 
Is working some eternal leaven ; 

In every battle planned and fought, 

"The guns were shotted all in Heaven." 

He were a wise man, in his own conceit, wdio should 
think he could comprehend and unfold the Divine decrees. 
When our shores beheld the morning Sun of some year ago, 
who could have foretold the destiny that would befall ere 
the year's circuit should be completed ? Was it then in the 
design of Deity that the Caribbean Seas, — so long the home 
of the Buccaneers, and of cruelties untold, — should be 
cleared of the infesting tyrants, and opened to the progress 
of civilization ? Who would have thought, that an archi- 
pelago of more than fourteen hundred isles, far removed 
from the great movements of the W'Orld, in the remote Pa- 
cific, would come under the dominion of the Stripes and 
Stars, and bring us in near proximity to the thronging nests 



of Cliina, and the Orient? Who could lifive foretold that 
such would be the iuflueuce of our Eepublican Institutions 
that the Polynesian group, in the midst of the Pacific, — 
more than 2,000 miles from even our western border, should 
hold out to us the Olive Branch, and of choice^ come under 
the aegis of American law ? 

In all this,- in this sudden, unexpected, and wide extend- 
ing evolution, — so contrary to our own designs, — is it 
presumptuous to suppose that it was in accordance with 
some divine plan, that Liberty should invade the realms of 
barbarism ; light flow in ; and progi'ess be made in the 
evangelization of the globe? Slowly, slowly, will unfold 
the great intent to the generations that are coming ! Our 
own may only see the dawn. 

It is expected that men will differ on questions of great 
National policy. Perfect unanimity might suggest stagna- 
tion. 

Some there are who think that we should sit down in 
our original isolation ; and stretch no hand out beyond the 
limits of the first survey. 

Others believe that having received immense accessions 
to our first territory, at a cost of many millions ; Florida, 
Louisiana, Texas, the entire coast of Alabama and Mis- 
sissippi, and gold-laden Alaska, — we should be content, and 
ask no more; that we have room enough for our expanding 
millions, when we can wet our alternate elbows, one in the 
Atlantic wave, and the other in the surge of the Pacific. 

There are many, however, who believe — shall I not say 
the overwhelming majority, — that they descry the point- 



mgs of manifest destiuj, beyond tlie boundaries, original 
and acquired; that Providence indicates that we should belt 
the globe with the institutions of freedom and enlighten- 
ment. We seem to be cornered by inevitable events ; 
and no way opens before us but the one we are pursuing' 
Meantime affairs go on. The helm of State is over-guided 
by a hand too potent to resist. All will be well. My op- 
timism permits no cloud to sliade it. 

For myself, I would cling to every island, every acre,— 
excepting Cuba, till she comes voluntarilv,— which Pro'vi- 
dence has given us. We cannot aff<n-d to' throw away the 
twenty millions of purchase money paid for the Philippines, 
and the many other millions paid for conquering and de- 
fendmg them. Nor could we look the world in the face, if 
we should leave them to their own barbarian rule, or the 
adventurer's sway; to a tyranny worse, if possible, than 
that from which they have escaped. Nor would we be justi- 
fied in leaving them unprotected, as a prize for contending 
nations. The duty is devolved on us to retain a protector- 
ate until a free government, suited to tJie people, shall be 
provided. 

I should think that those who, by their sympathv and 
arguments in opposition have given hope to the insurgents • 
led them to believe that we were weak and divided; Stimu- 
lated them to fight; and thus cost them and us much of 
treasure and life, would be troubled in their consciences for 
the rest of their lives. And Boston, our own Boston, which 
boasts of Fanueil Hall, and was always aflame with patriot- 
ism, harbors the nest. Aguinaldo has found that, throu-h 



tliein, he lias misconceived us, anti our power. Sucli must 
have beeu his reflections as he proceeds far in advance of 
his armVy — provided it is, as usual, on the retreat. 

Let us then, open wide the gates of the Orient. Send 
thither our manufactures. Bring hither their products. 
Let the East and the West shake hands ! 

Now what say you for the work before us ? Down, 
where the broad continent narrows to an isthmus ; 
where the great oceans approach so near that they can al- 
most hear each other's roar ; and where the Nicaraguan 
lake and the river of San Juan yet more diminish the dis- 
tance of land carriage, we must furrow a mighty waterway 
between the seas, so that our greatest ships, as they dry the 
waters of the Atlantic on their j^rows, may, in a few hours, 
find themselves plowing the smooth surface of the Pacific ; 
— saving many thousand tedious leagues around the stormy 
Horn. This seems to me to be our most imperative and 
immediate need. If Nicaragua is not practicable, then take 
the isthmus of Tehuantepec, or some other route, which 
shall break the barrier that divides the oceans, and make 
them one. This would put us more nearly in touch with 
our Philippine possessions, and draw up to us, more closely, 
the ports of China, Japan, Australia, India, and the west- 
ern coast of South America ; and bring within quicker 
access, and into a more intimate communion the cities of 
our Eastern and Western shores. 

Then, soon, will follow new and numerous keels laid in 
our Navy Yards, to sustain the giant masts from the forests 
of Maine and Colorado. Our armor-clads, whose decks are 



realms presided over bj American Law, wherever they may 
be, — will float their pennants in many a sea. Our Mercan- 
tile Marine, welcomed in all parts of the world,— carrying 
and bringing— will arrest the tribute we pay to foreign 
ships,— even now counting half a million dollars every day; 
but still, a trifle compared to what it is to be. 

And, then, next, to bring into a more intimate acquaint- 
ance, Erie and the Hudson, by an artificial river capable of 
bearing through the Empire State, our heaviest tonnage ; 
pouring a world's traflic through our fresh-water inland 
seas, and supplying them with moving fortresses. 

Comrades : I once felt, and still retain an affection for the 
Military Arm, which eighty-six full rounded years have not 
cooled. Educated at Captain Partridge's Military Institu- 
tion, at the Connecticut Middletown, I cannot, even now, 
hear the Star Spangled Banner, — which was daily played 
by our magnificent Band, at the battalion dismissals— with- 
out being transported, in memory, to our Campus, and, 
standing at a rest, with grounded arms, thrilling at the mar- 
tial strains. This was seventy -two years ago. This school, 
" The American, Literary, and Scientific Academy," is now 
removed to Vermont, and continued there, at Northfield, as 
the Norwich University- -but the same school. It has been 
a rich source of supply, of the best material, for our Army 
and Navy, in the Mexican, Civil, and Spanish wars, as well 
as for our civil governments. Among my cotemporaries 
was Horatio Seymour, since Governor of New York ; and 
T. Henry Seymour, since Governor of Connecticut, who was 
the first to scale the heights and enter the fortress of Che- 



pultepec. Some uotable names are among its alumni. 
Among tliem, Col. Truman B. Kansom, who received a Mex- 
ican bullet in his forehead, while charging up the heights 
of Chepultepec ; and his son, General Eausom, who, says 
Gen. O. O. Howard, was one of the most gallant men in the 
service ; William A. Beach, the gi'eat advocate who lately 
left us in New York ; Zera Colburn, the wonderful Mathame- 
tician ; Major-Gen. W. S. Harney ; Lieut.-Col. Edward E, 
Phelps ; but I am sure he didn't learn the secret of 
" Paine's Celery Compound," at our academy ; Maj.-Gen. 
Horatio G. Wright, who broke the strong lines of Peters- 
burgh ; of whom Grant wrote : — " Gen. Wright penetrated 
the line with his whole corps, sweeping everything before 
him, and to his left, capturing many guns, and several 
thousand prisoners ;" Maj. Gen. Grenville Mellen Dodge ; — 
well, I could fill pages with the names of eminent Generals, 
Major and Brigadier, Admirals, Captains, Colonels, Lieu- 
tenants, who having graduated here, have given their ser- 
vices to their country. In the Navy, I will mention Gideon 
Welles, Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy : the Captains Col- 
vocoresses, father and son ; Bear Admiral Paulding, Com- 
modore Tatnall, Bear Admiral Charles Carroll Carpenter : 
But I must stop. 

Gen. Sherman, addressing the Eansom Post at St. 
Louis, declared : — " This was an Academy of great re- 
nown. This school at one time almost rivalled the National 
Academy at West Point ; and there many a man who after- 
ward became famous in the Mexican and Civil Wars, first 
drank in the inspiration of patriotism, and learned the les- 



sons of the art of war. The reputation of the New Eng- 
land regiments must be attributed to the discipline and 
instruction received at this institution as much as to 
any single factor ; and the Green Mountain Boys owe their 
reputation and success largely to their training within these 
halls." 

I am sure you will give me time to add that not the 
least illustrious of the sons of my Alma Mater was, and is, 
Admiral George Dewey. 

Comrades : We are soon to enter on the Twentieth 
Century. Not one of us will see the end of it ; but we can 
appreciate the bsginning. 'The auspices are most favorable. 
We have a cloudless sky. The skirmishes on the island of 
Luzon have been somewhat tedious, have been expensive, — 
though slight in com23arison with the gain, — but they have 
not really been serious. Tbe control of these Pacific gems 
will open a way for Yankee genius to convert them into 
gardens : and to stimulate the interchange of riches, be- 
tween the '* gorgeous East " and the growing West. We 
have given the world an inkliug of what America i%. The 
knowledge of what she is to he, is folded up and hidden in 
the axle of Time. We may guess, we may conjecture, we 
may prophecy ; — slowly the Divine purposes unfold them- 
selves — but I venture to believe that, were the curtain which 
hides the doings of the next century now uprolled before 
the eyes of the boldest Seer, he would stand in such amaze, 
that he could find no language that would describe tJie 
Revelation. 




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